Fabric employed in counted cross stitch embroidery consists of loosely, even woven threads; that is, the same number and size threads going both crosswise and lengthwise per square inch. This fabric provides a true square when cross stitch embroidery is used across the same number of threads in each direction, usually two across and two up and down. A needle and embroidery thread or yarn are employed to provide a decoration on the fabric which, itself, is attractive and need not be entirely covered by the embroidery yarn or thread.
Conventional patterns for counted thread cross stitch embroidery are printed on paper having a grid printed thereon similar to graph paper wherein horizontal and vertical heavy lines define blocks containing one hundred small squares, ten squares horizontally and ten squares vertically. Different symbols are printed in the various squares denoting different colored threads to be employed in the fabric. Patterns may be small and simple or large and complicated requiring many different shades and colors of thread or yarn. A completely filled block of one hundred squares requires the needle to enter and leave the fabric at least two hundred times. Many decorative pictures will have many blocks, some filled completely and others filled partially, in random patterns. Using the correct color thread in the precise correct small square is a tedious process. Heretofore, an embroiderer had to start the embroidery work at a selected point along one side of the fabric. All subsequent stitches were made in relation to the previous ones by counting squares on the paper pattern and then threads of the fabric.
To overcome the tedious process of transferring the information contained on the paper pattern to the use of the proper colored thread at the correct location on the fabric, it has been proposed to superimpose a pattern sheet on the fabric and then embroider the fabric by inserting the needle and colored yarn through the pattern and fabric. After the work is completed, the pattern is removed from the fabric. This proposal has not been universally accepted since it is difficult to keep the pattern aligned with the proper squares in the fabric while performing the work, and when removing the pattern, there is a tendency to loosen or tear the colored yarn from the embroidered fabric.
To overcome the disadvantages experienced in previous embroidery methods, the fabric of the present invention has been devised which comprises, essentially, a conventional loosely woven, even-weave fabric having horizontally and vertically disposed colored guide threads woven therein in such a manner to correspond to the heavier lines on the conventional paper pattern forming a grid of blocks each having one hundred small squares contained therein. By this construction and arrangement, the fabric can be embroidered more easily since the grid structure formed by the colored guide threads facilitates the determination whether a particular pattern will fit on a piece of fabric, and also facilitates the use of the same color of thread or yarn in the various groups or blocks in the pattern before using another color of yarn or thread. After the embroidery is completed, the colored guide threads forming the grid are removed from the fabric.